Riquelme, Boca Juniors beat San Lorenzo
Boca Juniors continued their sudden revival with a well-deserved 1-0 victory over San Lorenzo at the Bombonera stadium on Sunday afternoon. With the victory, Carlos Ischia's side went level with San Lorenzo and Tigre, with 26 points. On current form they are the favorites to win the Apertura Championship this season.
It was a very highly contested clasico which ended up being won by the side that wanted it most. Boca went ahead in the seventh minute when a Juan Roman Riquelme free kick deceived San Lorenzo goalkeeper Agustin Orion before finding itself in the back of the net.
Boca dominated its opponents as the match progressed, but despite its good soccer, it couldn't manage a second goal. Although San Lorenzo did well in the midfield, it lacked quality when moving to the attack, and rarely threatened the Boca goal.
Newell's Old Boys remain in contention for the title after a hard-fought 1-0 victory over city rivals Rosario Central that sees them move up to fourth position, with 23 points. Rolando Schiavi converted a penalty kick in the 20th minute to give Newell's a vital victory that sparked wild scenes inside of a stadium that was packed by 40,000 fans.
Meanwhile, the clash between Racing Club and Velez Sarsfield ended scoreless at the Cilindro de Avellaneda. Both teams had their chances to win the match, but they had to settle for one point each.
In Sunday's other matches, Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy beat Banfield 2-0 and Arsenal de Sarandi picked up an important 1-0 victory over Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata at the Juan Carlos Zerillo stadium.
On Saturday, River Plate fell to a 2-0 defeat to Lanus in the South of Buenos Aires. It was another horrible display by Diego Simeone's side, which finds itself rock bottom, with only nine points from 13 matches this season. Diego Lagos (5') and Maximiliano Velazquez (53') scored Lanus' goals.
Other winners were Argentinos Juniors, who defeated Tigre 2-0; and Huracan, which edged Estudiantes de La Plata 1-0. While the clash between San Martin and Colon de Santa Fe in Tucuman ended in a 1-1 draw.
On Friday night, Independiente continued its poor run of results with a 1-1 tie with Godoy Cruz at the Cilindro de Avellaneda. Independiente dropped down to 13th position, while Godoy Cruz dropped down to 11th place.
